The JCC of the East Bay welcomes best-selling author and legal scholar Joel Bakan on Feb. 21st at 7:00 p.m. Bakan, a professor of law at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, will appear to discuss his latest book, “Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children.”

In “Childhood Under Siege,” Bakan illustrates how large corporations spend billions marketing to children, using dubious and manipulative tactics to fuel the burgeoning “kid marketing” industry, which in the last 50 years has become an essential part of the consumer economy. Through exhaustive research, he uncovers the increased health risks faced by children due to marketing strategies used by pharmaceutical corporations, the infiltration of American schools by private companies, the shocking use of child labor on farms and more.

“Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children” is the follow-up to Bakan’s 2004 best-selling title “The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power,” an account of how corporations have risen in the last 150 years to become a dominant economic force, wielding immense power over governments and society as a whole. It has been published in 20 languages and was the basis for the documentary film of the same name, which won the award for best foreign documentary at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

In addition to being a successful author and law professor, Bakan is also a noted legal scholar and popular public speaker, as well as a professional jazz guitarist and former Rhodes Scholar. He has served as a law clerk to Justice Brian Dickson of the Supreme Court of Canada, authored landmark legal judgments and published several articles in respected legal journals.

Supported by the Koret Taube Initiative on Jewish Peoplehood thanks to the generous funding of the Koret Foundation and the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture.